Slot cleaner for street railways



I. S. McWHlRTER.

SLOT CLEANER FOR STREET RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 2. 1920.

1 4k 1A'?% Patented Wm M, 11922..

Patented Uct. lfl, lZE.

JOHN s. ivicwi-rrnrnn, or icrnwvonn, 1v. Y. f v

SLOT cnnennn non STREET aarriwiivs.

Application filed April 2,

a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county and State of New York, 5 have. made a certain new and useful Invention in Slot Cleaners for Street Railways, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for clean.- ing dirt, snow, and the like, from the underground conduit employed, in connection with electric railways such as street car systems in large cities where the'electric current is supplied to the motors of the car from conductors located beneath the ground surface. The object of the invention is to provide a. cleaner which is simple' in structure, eflicient in operation, and which may be readily attachedancl detached. i A. further object of the invention is to provide acleaner which may be readily employed in connection with the passenger car. a Further objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter. The invention consists substantially in the 25 construction, combination, location, and relativea'rrangement of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, as shown 1 by the accompanying drawing, and finally pointed out in the appended claims. Referring to the drawing:--1 Fig. -1 is a View in front elevation, parts in section, of a car truck, and the under- 1 ground conduit. 1

Fig- 12 is a detail, view in section of a cleaner construction embodying my invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the l line 3-3, Fig. 2, looking inithe direction of thearrows. Y y i The same part is designated by the same reference character wherever it occurs throughout the several views. i In the slotsystem of electrically operated street cars, that is, where the power. is supplied to the motor of the car from a'suitable conductor located beneath the ground surface andcurrent therefrom supplied to the car motor through a contacting shoe carried by the car and. extending through a slut in the ground. surface, consir arable are many years to provide 1920. Serial N0. 370,744.

ficulty isencountered inkeeping the underground conduit clear of-snow, ice, dirt, etc. This is especially true in snow storms where thesnow readily sifts through the slot on unused portions of the track and becomes cake-d thereon. It hasbeen the custom for an especially eqiupped car or snow plow, which in addi tion to sweeping the surface of the tracks has been provided with a downwardly projecting arm of exceptional strong rigid character which extends through the slot" and; is provided with rigid fan-shaped head extending transversely across theconduit and beneath the power conductor rails so that when the car is moved forwardly the fan-shaped head of this arm forcesthe'snow, dirt, orthe like, through the conduitin advance of the snow-plow until the snow, dirt, etc, thus forced forwardly reaches amanhole in the conduit into which it is pushed by the forward movement of the car and thus dis charged to the sewer system. In a severe snowstorm however, especially where the number of specially equipped plows is small as compared to the total mileage of the system, and especially where the snow fall is a comparatively heavy one, the snow becomes caked sothat when the snow plow and its slot arm moves forwardly the snow cakes into a solid mass and prevents the forward progression of the snow plow, thereby effectively stalling the plow and the entire systein'at that point. It is among the special purposes of my present inventionto provide a cleaner device which will obviate this difliculty, and which will permit the cleaning deviceto be provided for each car,with facilities for ready attachment of the clean- .ing device to eachcar in the event of a storm 9 tothereby prevent the snow from collecting in such an amountas to cause cakin ln other words, in accordance with myinvention I nropcse to provide a cleaning device which may be readily appliedto each passengericar tothereby keep the conduits clean rather than allowing the snow, dirt, andthe like, to collect, and only be cleaned out at the intermittent periods of operation of the specially constructed powerful snow'plow. ice

Referring to the drawing, I show in Fig. 1 a portion of a slot railway system, comprising the rail 1 located on the ground surface 2, and supported in the usual manner by the block 3 and support 4-. The conduit is shown at 5 in which are located the power rails 6. In the center of the track the Z-members 7 form between them the usual slot 8, the Z -members supporting the plates 9 and being connected to therail 1 through the tie rods and beams 11 and 10 respectively to thereby form a rigid structure. A portion of a car truck is shown comprising the wheel 13'and journal 14 and a portion of the bolster 15. The bolster'15 is provided with a rectangularly shaped arm 16 which extends through the slot 8 and carries thereon thecompressible shoes 17 which contact with the rails 6 to thereby form a complete input and output circuit for the current which is fed up through the arm 16 to'the car motor in the usual well known manner,

It will be understood that throughout a railway system of this nature at intervals a manhole is provided at the bottom of the conduit 5, and also that the Z-beams 7 at intervals are so formed as to permit the rocking thereof to permit the widening of the slot 8. As a matter of fact at intervals throughout the railway system of this nature means are provided to permit a workman to enter the conduit for various purposes of repair, etc. In accordance with my invention I propose to extend the arm 16 to a point below the rails 6 and to secure thereto in any suitable manner, for example, by means of brackets 20, a cleaning device, for example, the brush 21, the head of which is of a non-conducting material, such as wood, and which comprises a series of stiff bristles 22- of wire, or the like, which, although quite stiff, possesses a certain amount of resiliency. With the arrangement above described it will be apparent that a brush of this nature may be employed on every contacting slot arm of each passenger car, either at all times when the car is in continual operation, or may be carried by the' car and attached to the arm only in the event of a snowstorm, or the like, thereby effecting a cleaning of the conduit while the-car is being propelled and thus obviat- I ing the necessity of a special car or snowplow to clean the conduit, and at the same time, due to the more frequent operation of the passenger cars than snowplows, tending greatly to diminish the possibilities of an accumulation of snow, dirt, or the like, to such a stage where the snowplow would be inefiective in cleaning the conduit and only effective incompletely blocking the same. Even in case of a blocking of a certain amount of snow or refuse material within the conduit it would not be necessary for the car to become stalled inasmuch as the re siliency of the brush bristles would be suili cient to permit the brush to pass over any particular accumulation or cake oi the snow or refuse material in case of necessity.

If it is desired the equipment may be carried by the car or may be stored in manholes along the line provided for that purpose. Further, the structure may consist oi? an auxiliary arm 26, similarly shaped rectangularly, and provided at its top end with a cross head 27 and at its bottom end with the brush 21. In this arrangement the bolster 15 would be formed with channel members 28 so that in case 01": a snow storm the Z-members 7 at any point provided therefor in the system could be rocked to widen the slot 8 to at least the transverse width of the arm 26 so that the longitudinal axis of the brush 21 would coincide with the longitudinal axis of the slot and thereby pass freely between power rails 6 when the same is inserted in the slot and also so that the cross head 27 would lie in a longitudinal axis parallel to the channel members 28. The arm 26 is then rotated through 90 degrees so that the brush 21 extends transversely across the bottom of the conduit 5, and the ends of the cross head 27 will be located in the channel portions 28 of the bolster 15. The Z-members 7 are then closed to their normal position to form the normal slot 8 and locked in the usual manner, and the car is ready to continue its travel. To avoid forming a contact between the arm 26 and the end of the rails (5, due to oscillatory movement of the arm 26, I provide a suitable collar 30 of non-insulating material, preferably of wood, for the portion of the arm 26 which when positioned is opposite the rail 6.

Many other modifications and changes in detail will readily occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the claims, but having shown and. described one construction embodying my invention. what I claim as new and usetul and of my own invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-'- a 1. In an underground conduit and slot system for electric street railways, and in combination with a truck unit, of an arm adapted to extend through said slot into said conduit and provided with a cleaning member at'the end thereof, and a cross-head for securing said arm to the truck unit to permit the ready attachment or detachment thereof.

In an underground conduit and slot system for electric street railways, and in combination with a truck unit, of an arm adapted to extendthrough said slot into said conduit and provided with a resilient clean- Learnt/e ing member at the end thereof and a crosshead at the other, and means for engaging said cross-head to secure the same to the truck unit for permitting ready attachment or detachment thereof.

3. In an underground conduit and slot system for electric street railways, and in combination with a truck unit, of an arm adapted to extend through said slot into said conduit and provided with a bristle brush 10 my hand on this 24th day of March, A. D., 15

JOHN S. MoVVHIRTER. 

